Expositions on the Book of Psalms (continued)
Psatm XCV.] ON THE.
PSALMS. 467
He scourge us? Confessedly for the kingdom of heaven. " For He scourgeth every son whom He receiveth; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?" ' and when God doth this, He is teaching us in order to an eternal heritage: and this learning He often giveth us by means of wicked men, through whom He trieth and perfecteth our love, which He doth will to be extended even to our enemies." . . Thus also they who persecuted the Martyrs, by persecuting them on earth, sent them into heaven: knowingly they caused them the loss of the present life, while unconsciously they were bestowing uppn them the gain of a future life: but, nevertheless, unto all who persevered in their wicked hatred of the righteous, will God recompense after their own iniquities, and in their own malice will He destroy them. For as the goodness of the righteous is hurtful unto the wicked, so is the iniquity of the wicked beneficial unto the righteous... . 24. Let therefore the righteous bear with the ungodly ; let the temporal suffering of the righteous bear with the temporal impunity of the wicked ; for 'the just shall live by faith." 3 For there is no righteousness of man in this life except to live by faith, " which worketh by love."'4 But if he liveth by faith, let him beheve both that he will himself inherit rest after his present toil, and that they will suffer eternal torments after their present exultation. And if faith worketh by love, let him love his enemies also, and, as far as in him lies, have the will to profit them; for thus he will prevent their injuring him when they have the will. And whenever perchance they have received power to hurt and tyrannize ; let him lift his heart above, where no man hurteth him, well taught and chastened in the law of God, that he may " have patience given him in the days of adversity, until the pit be digged up for the ungodly." .. . 25. This I say, brethren, that ye may profit from what ye have heard, and ruminate within yourselves: permit not yourselves to forget, not only by thinking over again upon these subjects, and discoursing upon them, but also by so living. For a good life which is led after God's commands, is like a pen, because it is heard writing in our hearts. If it were written on wax, it would easily be blotted out: write it in your hearts, in your character, and it shall never be blotted out. thing, to obey our father.
Since therefore he who deigneth to pray for us, hath ordered us, I will speak unto you, beloved, what from the present Psalm Jesus Christ our common Lord shall deign to give us. Now the title of the Psalm is " David's Song of praise." The "Song of praise'' signifieth both cheerfulness, in that it is a song; and devotion, for it is praise. For .|what ought a man to praise more than that which pleaseth him so, that it is impossible that it can displease him? In the praising of God therefore we praise with security. There he who praiseth is safe, where he feareth not lest he be ashamed for the object of his praise. Let us therefore both praise and sing; that is, let us praise with cheerfulness and joy. But what we are about to praise, this Psalm in the following verses showeth us.
2. "OQ come, let us sing unto the Lord" (ver. 1). He calleth us to a great banquet of joy, not one of this world, but in the Lord.
For if there were not in this life a wicked joy which is to be distinguished from a righteous joy, it would be enough to say, "Come, let us rejoice ;" but he has briefly distinguished it. What is it to rejoice aright? To rejoice in the Lord. Thou shouldest piously joy in the Lord, if thou dost wish safely to trample upon the world. But what is the word, '"' Come ''? Whence doth He call them to come, with whom he wisheth to rejoice in the Lord; except that, while they are afar, they may by coming draw nearer, by drawing nearer they may approach, and by approaching rejoice? But whence are they afar? Can a man be locally distant from Him who is everywhere? ... It is not by place, but by being unlike Him, that a man is afar from God. What is to be unlike Him? it meaneth, a bad life, bad habits; for if by good habits we approach God, by bad habits we recede from God. ... If therefore by unlikeness we recede from God, by likeness we approach unto God. What likeness? That after which we were created, which by sinning we had corrupted in ourselves, which we have received again through the remission of sins, which is renewed in us in the mind within, that it may be engraved a second time as if on coin, that is, the image of our God upon our soul, and that we may return to His treasures. . 3. "Let us make a joyful ° noise unto God, our salvation."', Consider, beloved, those who make a joyful noise in any ordinary songs, as in a sort of competition of worldly joy ; and ye see them while reciting the written lines bursting forth with a joy, that the tongue sufficeth not to express the measure of ; how they shout, indicating by that utterance the feeling of the mind, PSALM XCV.5
1. I could wish, brethren, that we were rather listening to our father: but even this is a good
1 Heb, xii. 7. 2 Matt. v. 44. [See p. 455, § 12, supra. —C.] 3 Rom, i. 17. 4 Gal v. 6. 5 Lat. XCIV. A discourse delivered at the bidding of Aurelius bishop of Carthage, or perhaps of Valerius bishop of Hippo, and consequently either before or shortly after St. Augustin was consecrated bishop.
© Fubilemus.
468 THE WORKSUOF "ST: AUGUSTIN. [PsaLmM XCV, for the Apostle hath prescribed this unto us, he hath explained whereof it is said. For this was the Jewish people, the people where were the prophets, the people where were the patriarchs, the people begotten according to the flesh from the seed of Abraham ; the people in which all the mysteries which promised our Saviour preceded us; the people among whom was instituted the temple, the anointing, the Priest for a figure, that when all these shadows were past, the Light itself might come; this therefore was the people of God; to it were the prophets sent, in it those who were sent were born; to it were delivered and entrusted the yevelations of God. What then? is the whole of that people condemned? far be it. It is called the good olive-tree by the Apostle, for it commenced with the patriarchs. . . . This then is the tree itself: though some of its boughs have been broken, yet all have not. For if all the boughs were broken, whence is Peter? whence John? whence Thomas? whence Matthew? whence Andrew? whence are all those Apostles ? whence that very Apostle Paulavho was speaking to us but now, and by his own fruit bearing witness to the good olive? Were not all these of that people? Whence also those five hundred brethren to whom our Lord appeared after His resurrection?4+ Whence were so many thousands at the words of Peter (when the Apostles, filled with the Holy Spirit, spoke with the tongues of all nations') converted with such zeal for the honour of God and their own accusation, that they who first shed the Lord's blood in their rage, learnt how to drink it now that they believed? And all these five thousand were so converted that they sold their own property, and laid the price of it at the Apostles' feet. That which one rich man did not do, when he heard from the Lord's mouth, and sorrowfully departed from Hin,' this so many thousands of those men by whose hands Christ had been crucified, did on a sudden. In proportion as the wound was deeper in their own hearts, with the greater eagerness did they seek for a physician. Since therefore all these were from thence, the Psalm saith of them, " For the Lord will not cast off His people." ... which cannot in words express what is conceived in the heart. If they then in earthly joy make a joyful noise ; might we not do so from heavenly joy, which truly we cannot express in words?
4. "Let us prevent His face by confession"' (ver. 2). Confession hath a double meaning in Scripture. There is a confession of him who praiseth, there is that of him who groaneth. The confession of praise pertaineth to the honour of Him who is praised: the confession of groaning to the repentance of him who confesseth. For men confess when they praise God: they confess when they accuse themselves; and the tongue hath no more worthy use. Truly, I believe these to be the very vows, of which he speaketh in another Psalm: "I will pay Thee my vows, which I distinguished with my lips." ' Nothing is more elevated than that distinguishing, nothing is so necessary both to understand and to do. How then dost thou distinguish the vows which thou payest unto God? By praising Him, by accusing thyself; because it is His mercy, to forgive us our sins. For if He chose to deal with us after our deserts, He would find cause only to condemn. '"O come," he said therefore, that we may at last go back from our sins, and that He may not cast up with us our accounts for the past; but that as it were a new account may be commenced, all the bonds of our debts having been burnt... . The more therefore thou despairedst of thyself on account of thy iniquities, do thou confess thy sins ; for so much greater.is the praise of Him who forgiveth, as is the fulness of the penitent's confession more abundant. Let us not therefore imagine that we have receded from the song of praise, in understanding here that confession by which we acknowledge our transgressions: this is even a part of the song of praise ; for when we confess our sins, we praise the glory of God.
5. "And make a joyful? noise unto Him with Psalms." We have already said what it is " to make a joyful noise:" the word is repeated, that it may be confirmed by the act: the very repetition is an exhortation. For we have not forgotten, so as to wish to be again admonished, what was said above, that we should make a joyful noise: but usually in passages of strong feeling a well-known word is repeated, not to make it more familiar, but that the very repetition may strengthen the impression made : for itis repeated that we may understand the feeling of the speaker. ... Hearnow: " For the Lord isa great God, and a great Kin, above all gods" (ver. 3). "For the Lord will not cast off His people.' 3 Praise be unto Him, and shouts of joy be unto Him! What people shall He not cast off? we have no right to make our own explanation here :
6. What doth the Psalm add? In His hand are all the corners of the earth" (ver. 4): we recognise the corner stone: the corner stone is Christ. There cannot be a corner, unless it hath united in itself two walls: they come from different sides to one corner, but they are not opposed to each other in the corner. The circumcision cometh from one side . the uncircumcision from the other; in Christ both peoples have met together: because He hath become the stone, of which it is written, "The stone
4 1 Cor. xv. 6. 5 5 Acts il, 4. 7 Matt. xix. 21, 22, © Acts iv. 4, ii. 44.
I Ps. Ixvi. 13, 14 2 3 Ps. xciv. 14.
; Subtlemus, In the Sept. these nine words are added.
Psatm XCV1] ON THE PSALMS. 469 which the builders rejected, hath become the head' of the-corner.'" 4 ow
Of what sort are thy teeth? "Like a flock of sheep that are shorn.'' Why, "that are shorn"? ? Because they have laid aside the burdens of the world. Were not those sheep, of which I was a little before speaking, shorn, whom the bidding of God had shorn, when He saith, " Go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor; and thou shalt find treasure in heaven: and come and follow Me'"'?3 They performed this bidding : shorn they came. And because those who believe in Christ are baptized, what is there said ? "which come up from the washing ;"' that is, come up from the cleansing. '" Whereof every one beareth twins."" What twins? 'Those two commandments, wherefrom hang all the Law and the Prophets.*
7. " For the sea is His and He made it" (ver. 5). For the sea is this world, but God made also the sea: nor can the waves rage save only so far as to the shore, where He hath marked their bounds. There is therefore no temptation, that hath not received its measure... . "And His hands prepared the dry land." Be thou the dry land: thirst for the grace of God: that as a sweet shower it may come upon thee, may find in thee fruit. He alloweth not the waves to cover what He hath sown. "And His hands prepared the dry land.'' Hence also therefore Jet us shout unto the Lord.
8. "O come, let us worship, and fall down to Him ; and mourn before the Lord our Maker "'
10. Therefore, "To-day if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts" (ver.8). O my people, the people of God! God addresses His people: not only the people of His which He shall not cast off, but also all His people. For He speaketh in the corner stone 5 to each wall: that is, prophecy speaketh in Christ, both to the people of the Jews, and the people of the Gentiles. Forsome time ye heard His voice through Moses, and hardened your hearts. He then, when you hardened your hearts, spoke through a herald; He now speaketh by Himself, let your hearts soften. He who used to send heralds before Him, hath now deigned to come Himself ; He here speaketh by His own mouth, He who used to speak by the mouths of the Prophets.
(ver. 6). . . . Perhapsthou art burning with the consciousness of a fault; blot out with tears the flame of thy sin: mourn before the Lord: fearlessly mourn before the Lord, who made thee ; for He despiseth not the work of His own hands in thee. Think not thou canst be restored by thyself. By thyself thou mayest fall off, thou canst not restore thyself: He who made thee restoreth thee. "Let us mourn before the Lord our Maker: " weep before Him, confess unto Him, prevent His face in confession. For who art thou who mournest before Him, and confessest unto Him, but one whom He created ? The thing created hath no slight confidence in Him who created it, and that in no indifferent fashion, but according to His own image and likeness.
11. "As in the provocation, and in the day of temptation in the wilderness, where your fathers proved Me" (ver. 9). Let such be no more your fathers: imitate them not. They were your fathers, but if ye do not imitate them, they shall not be your fathers: yet as ye were born of them, they were your fathers. And if the heathen who came from the ends of the earth, in the words of Jeremias, "The Gentiles shall come unto Thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our forefathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit: "'® if the heathen forsook their idols, to come to the God of Israel ; ought Israel whom their own God led from Egypt through the Red Sea,"? wherein He overwhelmed their pursuing foes; whom He led out into the wilderness, fed with manna,® never took His rod from correcting them, never deprived them of the blessings of His mercy ; ought they to desert their own God, when the heathen have come unto Him? " When your fathers tempted Me, proved Me, and saw My works. .. . 12. "Forty years long was I very near unto this generation, and said, It is a people that do g. " For He is the Lord our God" (ver. 7). But that we may without fear fall down and kneel before Him, what are we? "We are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand.'"' See how elegantly he hath transposed the order of the words, and as it were not given its own attribute to each word; that we may understand these very same to be the sheep, who are also the people. He said not, the sheep of His pasture, and the people of His hand; which might be thought more congruous, since the sheep belong to the pasture; but He said, "the people of His pasture." The people are therefore sheep, since he saith, "the people of His pasture :"' the people themselves are sheep. .. . He praiseth these sheep also in the Song of Solomon, speaking of some perfect ones as the teeth of His Spouse the Holy Church: "Thy teeth are like a flock of sheep that are even shorn, which come up from the washing ; whereof every one beareth twins, and there is none barren."'?, What meaneth, "' Thy teeth'? These by whom thou speakest: for the teeth of the Church are those' through whom she speaketh.
3 Matt. xix. 21, 4 Matt. xxii. 4o. 6 Jer. xvi. 19. 5 Eph. ii. 20, 7 Exod. xiv. 21, 22. 8 Exod. xvi. 13-35.
1 Ps cxviil. 22. 2 Song of Sol. iv. 2, vi. 5.